May 2012
1 post
December 2011
3 posts
attack the block
probertson:
awesome movie
November 2011
2 posts
2 tags
March 2011
1 post
Let It Be
January 2011
7 posts
4 tags
What is Beige, Yellow, Pink and Purple All Over?...
I don’t like the packaging for the new Sam Fuller Blu-rays of The Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor. The beige-yellow-pink-purple-black color scheme is gruesome. Sickly, even. The colors do not compliment Daniel Clowes’ artwork at all. The packaging should have been like the movies — black-and-white.
On the other hand, the transfers are spectacular. Two stills from my favorite Shock...
Army of Shadows Blu-Ray Notes
This is real cinema. Army of Shadows is subtle, nuanced, expertly acted, and precisely directed.
Army of Shadows Blu-Ray Still 1 (1920x1080) Army of Shadows Blu-Ray Still 2 (1920x1080) Army of Shadows Blu-Ray Still 3 (1920x1080)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars Blu-Ray Notes
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) can be summed up as follows: fun, colorful, and dated. Technical specs for the high-def restoration reflect The Criterion Collection’s typically high standards. The MPEG-4 AVC encoded video streams at an average of 35 mbps. Aspect ratio is 2.35:1 and the sound is good old monaural. Extras are basically the same as the previous standard-def release.
A full...
December 2010
2 posts
Before The Oregonian, There Was Jerkbeast
Last night, I realized that Calvin Reeder — the director of The Oregonian, which will take a midnight bow at Sundance 2011 — was a co-director of a foul and funny cable access show called Jerkbeast. I compiled a bunch of clips from this show for a video project many months ago. I even corresponded with the other director — Brady Hall —, but failed to notice that Reeder was...
Reviews Plus Bonus Badness
Busy? Yes. As an act of appeasement, here are links to four — yes, four! —recent reviews. The head scratcher in this batch is Tinto Brass’ Salon Kitty, an ultra-daft Nazi exploitation epic. The film’s mix of gaudy art design and amoral sleaze is probably what got Tinto Brass hired for Caligula. Did the SS really dress like Flash Gordon (see below)? I don’t think so.
...
November 2010
4 posts
Cronos Blu-Ray Notes
Cronos was Guillermo del Toro’s first film. I think it is very good — it is not truly great — and shows the promise that he fulfilled with films like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. I am not so hot on the Hellboy movies. However, it is hard to deny that those films are imaginative and skillfully made.
As expected, The Criterion Collection has done a quality...
Long Live The New Flesh
A review of The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of Videdrome is forthcoming. In the interim, here are some technical notes and screencaps.
The Blu-Ray boasts a newly restored high-def transfer of the unrated cut. The transfer is in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. DVD Beaver says that Criterion DVD streams at an average 7.39mbps. My software tools indicate that the Blu-Ray MPEG-4 AVC is almost 5...
Taking a Knife to Night of The Hunter
I saw Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter on late night TV many, many years ago. This 1955 black-and-white film left a strong impression. How do you describe it? Southern Gothic meets German Expressionism? Kind of. At times, it’s hokey and over-ripe. Most of the time, it is flat-out stunning. Robert Mitchum is completely out-of-control here.
The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray that...
World's Longest Antichrist Review
My review of the Antichrist Blu-Ray is now available at Twitch. This one came in at close to 1000 words. The review is kind of sprawling, but I think it all locks together.
October 2010
15 posts
Umberto Creates Imaginary Horror Soundtracks
Do you like Goblin? Do you like John Carpenter’s synth soundtracks? If so, you might like Matt Hill’s one-man musical project Umberto. The sound is closer to the thumping 4/4 synth-heavy scores for Dawn of the Dead, Tenebrae, and Contamination than the complicated proggy sound of Deep Red. The first Umberto release — From the Grave — is good, but Prophecy of the Black...
The Round-Up
In his book Have you seen?: A personal introduction to 1,000 films, David Thomson claimed that The Round-Up (1965) by Miklós Jancsó was an influence on Béla Tarr and Sergio Leone. This claim, which was paraphrased by Second Run DVD in their promo materials, was enough to get me to buy a copy of this.
I shamefully admit that I still haven’t seen a Béla Tarr movie but I can say this: I am...
Antichrist Blu-Ray Specs and Screencaps
A full review of The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist will show up at Twitch within a week or so. In the mean time, here are some technical notes and screencaps. As usual, this is a dual-layer disc. BDInfo tells me that the MPEG-4 AVC encoded feature streams at 24.96 mbps. Timing is 108 minutes, and I assume this is uncut. Aspect ratio is 2.35:1. I...
Light It Up: Quick Apocalypse Now Blu-Ray Notes...
The two-disc “special edition” Apocalypse Now Blu-Ray crams both the original cut and Apocalypse Now Redux onto a double-layer disc. Average bitrate for each feature is 17.994mbps. All the extras, except for the audio commentary, are on a second dual-layer disc.
The screen caps below are reduced to 500x281 for Tumblr, but if you click the picks, you can see bigger sizes on Flickr. I...
This Movie Reminds Me of Ed Brubaker
While watching Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence, I was struck by a sense of deja vu. Something about the movie, which I had never seen before, rung a bell. I quickly figured out what was going on.
Comic book illustrator Sean Phillips did a small 4 page comic book insert for the Criterion DVD of Blast of Silence. Phillips has collaborated with Ed Brubaker on a few comics like Criminal...
Morgiana
A review of Juraj Herz’s Morgiana is now available. It is good. The Cremator is better. Much better.
Herz, Klimt, and Gothic Czech Horror
Juraj Herz’s Morgiana is weird. It is kind of like a 19th century gothic horror movie done by Fassbinder. The still of Iva Janžurová shown above was taken from the new Second Run DVD of the film. In an interview on the DVD, Herz says the look of the film was influenced by Gustav Klimt.
House Blu-Ray Review
My review of Criterion’s House Blu-Ray is now available at Twitch. Ditch the bootlegs and the foreign DVDs. This is the version you want to own.
House Blu-Ray and DVD Comparisons
This is from the Criterion Blu-Ray, which is in 1.33:1 OAR. The video bitrate is an insane 35mbps.
This is from the Toho R2 DVD, which I think is a 1.55:1 aspect ratio. I believe this is the case because the Masters of Cinema (MOC) R2 DVD is in this AR and Toho sourced that DVD. In comparison to the Criterion release, there is more information at L/R and T/B is cropped. Average bit rate is...
WatchI wrote a review of Blue Underground’s Machine Gun McCain Blu-Ray in which I spoke highly of the menus. The menu designer got in touch to say that he put a video of the menus online. I love the animated sequence at the beginning as well as the use of swaggering theme song and the clips of John Cassavetes. This is the type of cool feature that really adds to the value of Blu-Ray discs.
2010 Film Reviews
This is a list of all 2010 film reviews I have published — some pieces are still in limbo — as of October 8th, 2010. This does not include festival program notes (e.g., Fantastic Fest) or other projects. I may have forgotten some. If so, they will be added later.
DVD and Blu-Ray (posted at Twitch)
Maniac Blu-Ray Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence Blu-Ray Machine Gun McCain Blu-Ray ...
Taxi Maniac
Joe Spinell and Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver (1976)
Joe Spinell and anonymous actress in Maniac (1980)
Maniac and Moral Panic: Blame It On Gene Siskel
Among the extras included with the new Maniac Blu-Ray is a section devoted to public controversy generated when the movie was released in 1980. It seems like a distant memory now, but in the 1980s, there was a true public outrage at so-called “slasher movies.” They were the downfall of society and would cause more crime and violence. Of course, that never happened.
Among the outraged...
May 2010
1 post
Three Resurrected Drunkards DVD Arcana
Next week, Eclipse is releasing a 6 DVD box set of Nagisa Oshima films from the ’60s. One of these films is Oshima’s 1968 film Three Resurrected Drunkards (Kaette kita yopparai). The film opens with a very odd Japanese pop tune, which the program notes call an “electronically sped-up version of a hit pop tune by the Japanese group the Folk Parody Gang.” However, is this...